Teacher Background Knowledge and Preparation

Today we are finishing up our analysis of the cause and effect relationships in the last part of the story. We we work on the skill of cause and effect we are addressing standard RL1.3. Our students need to understand that the interactions between the characters is what causes the events in the story to happen. Its these interactions that make the events in the story unfold. The events aren't just random happenings. RL1.3 progresses through the years until students reach the anchor standard where they must Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Just like the other lessons in this unit, I will be asking my students many questions to allow them to understand the cause and effect relationships. They will be discussing the content of the book with their partners and as a class. This addresses standard RL1.1.

You will also see in the independent practice section that as I walk around I am demanding that my students have correct grammar, usage, and conventions when writing. Even though this lesson isn't a grammar lesson, the independent practice section is really an authentic form of assessment for how my students are working towards mastery of the language standards. You will see me demand that they go back and fix their mistakes. When I emphasize this with my class in their independent work we are addressing standards L1.1a, L1.2a, and L1.2b.

Reading and Discussing the Story and Recording On Our Mult-Flow Map

20 minutes

Just like in other lessons I partnered students up and told them which table to sit at. I gave the students the objective and overview. I said, "Today we are going to finish our work with analyzing the story and seeing how the character's interactions cause the events in the story. When we do this it is called cause and effect. We will record our cause and effect relationships on our multi-flow maps and then we will be able to answer our text dependent questions. Let's start on our last part of our story."

I brought up slide 18 on the Smartboard lesson. I said, "We have 4 effects that happen as a result of Python asking iguana why he didn't say good morning to him. We'll really have to listen for those 4 effects." I read to page 21 of the story. I said, "Partners, it's time to talk about what you think the 4 effects Python asking iguana why he didn't say good morning to him." After partners talked we had a class discussion. I started asking questions again to focus students' attention. I would ask questions such as "Do you think what they just said was correct? How do you know that's correct? " When we had determined what the 4 effects were I referred back to slide 18 on the Smartboard. I said, " Record your effects on your multi-flow map on page 14 of your packet."

We continued on in this exact same manner with 3 more cause and effect relationships. These included:

Independent Practice

20 minutes

It was time for my students to do their independent work. When I taught this lesson it was late March, and I was really taking a step back from assisting my students so much. I said, "Now it's your turn to answer your questions. Turn to page 14 in your packet. You will do the questions on pages 14-15 of your packet. Use your multi-flow maps as a tool to help yourself out when answering questions. You can talk to your partner if you feel like you absolutely have to but if you use your multi-flow map you should be able to answer the questions on your own. Just remember to reread your sentences to make sure you have used evidence from the text to answer your questions. "

I walked around the room, helping my strugglers to read the questions. Since this was the last day of our lesson, the students understood the process of what they needed to be doing. They were doing a great job of using their mult-flow map as a tool to help themselves answer their questions. You can see by watching the video here in the resource section that the room is very quiet. They really are concentrating on what they are doing and they are very independent workers. I am so excited to take a step back and not really be needed. It's a huge change from the beginning of the year.

I want to be clear that just because my students don't need me as much doesn't mean I go and hide behind my teacher's desk. I am still walking around the room and "nit picking" my students work. This is a great opportunity for me to ask questions like "What kind of letter does a name need? What kind of punctuation do you need?" This is an authentic opportunity for students to practice their grammar skills such as correct usage of punctuation, and capitalization of proper nouns. You can see my students working here in the video Answering Our Question - Day Four Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Years.mp4 .

Closure

5 minutes

The koosh ball closure was such a success this week I decided to do it again. The koosh ball closure is really easy if you just want to close the lesson by asking questions. I said, "O.K let's review what we did today. Who can tell me what the effects were of King Lion calling the crow?" I threw the koosh ball to a volunteer and they answered the question. I asked a few more questions and whichever student had the koosh ball would throw it to someone else. The remaining questions were:

What were the effects of python asking iguana why he didn’t say good morning to him?

What were the effects of the council wanting to punish the mosquito?

What is the effect of mosquito buzzing in people’s ears?

How can we determine what an effect is when we are discussing cause and effect relationships?

Then I wanted students to be able to justify their opinions about what they thought of the character's actions in the story. Before they wrote their answers we discussed their opinions by throwing around the koosh ball again. I asked:

In your opinion do you think iguana made a good choice to put sticks in his ears in the first place? Make sure you use evidence from the text to support your answer.

In your opinion, what do you think would have happened if the iguana just walked away from the mosquito instead of putting sticks in his ears? What do you think this would have done to the story?